The McCain Foods plant at Carberry, Manitoba, is garnering
$380,000 in subsidies from the federal and provincial governments to upgrade
its potato-processing plant.
This is egregious waste of taxpayers' money. McCain Foods is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Canadian food-processing company. It can surely pay for its investments without government handouts.
Add in the cost of borrowing the money to give to McCain, borrowed because both the federal and Manitoba governments are running deficits.
Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture
Minister Ron Kostyshyn were on hand to make their donations this week.
The company’s investments are expected to reduce potato waste
by 900,000 pounds and canola oil waste by 800,000 pounds per year.
The company says it intends to add about 10 employees to its
staff of 220 over the next three years.
“In order to stay
competitive, it’s important to have equipment that runs efficiently, allowing
maximum productivity and minimal waste,” plant manager Dean Melnic said in a
joint company-government news release.
McCain bought the plant in 2004. It was built 53 years ago
and now processes about 430 million pounds of potatoes a year, most of them for
french fries, 80 per cent of them exported.
“Reducing waste and increasing efficiency will help ensure
Manitoba-grown potatoes continue to be a top choice for processors and
consumers,” Kostyshyn said.
